Black students in Asheville did not display skin color or class bias

Discrimination between black students with different skin tones or different economic levels did not seem to be a problem at Bowman's high school. Students seemed to accept the existence of segregation and accept that people could be beautiful in a variety of shades.

Citing this Excerpt

Oral History Interview with Richard Bowman, July 8, 1998. Interview K-0513. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Full Text of the Excerpt

KELLY ELAINE NAVIES:

So, tell me um-I'm curious-were there any issues in
terms of color, skin color at Stephens-Lee? And class, and
that type of thing-did those things ever come up?

RICHARD BOWMAN:

I never recall any of those things coming up. We just didn't think of it.
We accepted segregation and we just didn't think about it.

KELLY ELAINE NAVIES:

I mean skin color between blacks-like light skin/dark skin.

RICHARD BOWMAN:

No, no

KELLY ELAINE NAVIES:

None of that ever came up?

RICHARD BOWMAN:

Never with me-you could see evidence of it in the neighborhood
[unclear]
-but, even the majorettes-If you look at
pictures of our majorettes, we had some beautiful dark skin black girls
and we had some light complexioned black girls. We just didn't think of
it-